rmjse

Skyrader,

I had the AFS issues come up a few months back. Took it to the dealer and they said that it was my AFS control unit. I explained to them that I think its the Stroke Sensor, but they kept saying it was the AFS unit. So they replaced it, I went to pick up my car a few days later and AFS light was still blinking. They replaced the control unit again, still same issue. One more time, I suggested that they replace the Stroke Sensor, they finally caved in and replaced it and that fixed issue. It's most likely your stroke sensor and not the AFS unit.

triniexr

Is there a write up available on how to change the stroke sensor?

Black Widow Gen2

I think I am gonna try this as my first option, since some people have had success with it. Mine comes on about once a week, and it is very annoying.

DiabloSVRacer

i think it is pretty easy, like take off your wheel, locate the stroke sensor and its a plug and play. kinda like the speed sensor.

HEAVY_RL

iTrader: (1)

When my bulb finally goes I am going to replace the bulb, the sensor, and the ballast at one time.

For now, that flicker isn't a big deal to me.

gbarr119

I just repaired a friends 2005 RL. The dealer quoted a computer and labor. I questioned the quote and determined the stroke sensor was bad. Picked one up at my local salvage yard and installed, worked perfect, no codes, warning lights off. The used one was 40 bucks. These sensors are not black magic, it's a simple potentiometer, like a tps on the engine. Easy to check with a volt meter. The overall resistance should be in the range of 4500 ohms(4.5k ohms) and the middle tap to either side should go from that 4.5k down to 150 ohms, depending on the position of the shaft, and which end terminal you're on. What you're looking for is a consistant sweep of resistance, up and down. I used an old analog meter to verify there were no spikes or drop outs, in the resistance. I think these sensors could be cleaned easily enough as well, as long as they are not corroded, like mine. Next time the warning light goes on, disassemble the end plate, clean and lube, and reassemble. Don't forget to clean the contacts of the harness end, mine were green with corrosion.

gbarr119

shahram72

This is exactly why you can't even let them bother to try to fix something like this unless you are IN warranty. If you paid for the control unit, good luck getting your money back. One of the reasons I am here (I have not yet even taken delivery) is that as these cars get older, some systems will fail and we will have to learn workarounds or fixes, or disable the system and do away with it for good. I doubt many will pay $1000 to have headlights swivel. My 2005 is on the way and might have some issues, I hope not. When I owned my Lincoln Mark VIII I was on a forum where WE fixed the hardwired HID's the air ride system, and many others. The bad side to the Acura is that most of us are not do it your selfers, mostly the ones who bought new. On the Lincoln site were people who have taken apart engines and transmissions. Not so much here. Those of us who bought used are not in the same financial class as those who bought new so we get and extended warranty and pray. I do have a budget for repairs, but I'd rather spend that on wheels and tires or a subwoofer or maybe some more RC helicopters!

shahram72

Now this is what I'm talking about!!!!!

DiabloSVRacer

You are the man. I will try to clean my stroke sensor. thank you very much for your help. im glad i saw this.

getakey

My AFS light came on yesterday during a short trip. Went away next time I started the car.
I had skimmed this thread before, but did not realize how annoying the warning light is.
There are 2 warnings - 1 in the MID which you can "turn off" through the up arrow on the right side steering wheel controls. However, the flashing light in the upper right corner of the intrument panel does not go away. It continues to flash - how annoying. Does not go away even if you press AFS off.

Crossing fingers that it was a one time glitch and does not come back

adamb113

Same issue here '05. From reading through all this I am going to start with teh rear level sensor. Where is the cheapest I can get one. ANyone have a goo duesed one I can swap out to see if that is the issue before buyin gone?
Thanks,
Adam

adamb113

I have this issue on my '05. Looks like from this thread I should start with the rear suspension level sensor. Does anybody have one or know the cheapest place to get one so I can just do a swap and see if that was it.
Thanks
Adam

Matt W

Here is your best bet:

http://www.oemacuraparts.com/product...sja-003-acura/

Contact Tim, he gives deals for Acurazine members.

My sensor is now constantly on so I am going to try and first clean it and if that doesnt work I will replace.

jbelite82

take it in to acura, let them figure it out.

Pau Hana

The AFS light is the biggest pain in the butt with my 2005 RL. It has been an intermittent problem for 3-4 years.
I had the dealer diagnose for $65 and they told me it was a cool G-note to replace. I said it was intermittent so probably a loose wire. No way I was going to spend that kind of money, and I am not Mr Handy.

Funny thing: When the AFS warning is flashing, the headlights work fine, although no swiveling.
During the times the AFS is not acting up, either headlight will suddenly turn off
while I am driving, and I need to turn off the headlights and turn them back on to re-ignite.

Something is fishy, and the way I see it we are screwed because Acura refuses to fix it for free when out of warranty. And it is basically a useless feature as far as I am concerned.
Right now I am going through a period of the light not coming on. It also seems when the humidity is low it tends to not act up.
Hence the loose wire theory.

Megatron

99.9% chance it's the stroke sensor as mentioned earlier in this thread. It's easy to replace but the part will cost you close to $200.

christopher1

sensor.. did it myself 20mins tops and the light is out!!! try that first. ont the rear driver side strut. take the tire off you will see it. VERY easy to do.

Matt W

Or you can fix it for a couple of pennies like I did.

ichi d

matt dudz u killed it on this one lol. props to u.

sycl0n

Just got my 2005 RL this week from my father-in-law (RL#4 in our garage). He had been complaining about the AFS for the past several years. Dealership quoted $2k to fix. He decided to coverthe blinking AFS light with electrical tape instead. First thing I did after picking up the car from him was to look at the stroker sensor. Sure enough, 2 of the 3 spring contact had corroded and broken. I cleaned off the corrosion from the contacts and hit up Home Depot for new conductive springs. Found a pack of misc. springs with 4 steal springs that fit the diameter and compressed about right. (84 Piece Spring AssortmentKit 471864). Dropped 2 of them in and the potentiometer was fixed. AFS light gone. Grand total... $4.65 and I have 82 leftover springs. I cleaned off the rest of the corrosion in the connector and did my best to seal it up. We will see how long this fix lasts. Thanks gbarr119 for the insight....

HEAVY_RL

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the update and welcome.

nralpmet

'05 RL w. 180,000km. Have had the "Check AFS System" light come on about 6 times over the years. The first time I took it in and it cost about CAD$400 for a leveling sensor. Now I just leave it and and seems to clear it self after a couple of days. JUst one of the quirks of my beloved...:-)

HEAVY_RL

iTrader: (1)

Same thing here

Matt W

I tried doing this same thing except I tried using the springs from some crappy pens I had. Mine was really awful so it didn't work and I just soldered two resistors in the housing. Glad to see that it worked for you though.

sycl0n

I may have fixed the AFS but today I walked out to the garage and found a dead battery after letting the car sit 3 days. I'm thinking there may still be a lock issue as it seems to unlock and lock the doors repeatedly when I'm standing next to the car for no reason... or I just don't understand how it works yet... but something drained the battery

DiggsNWT

My AFS has been acting up for about two months. It would come and go...but lately, it has been on more than off. I found this thread...and did the rear leveling sensor repair job today...one of the springs was corroded, so bad that the bottom third of the spring just broke off. I cleaned up the contacts real good, replaced with new spring...so far...so good!

Awesome tip! Thx Heavy_RL!

Diggs

jedinyte120

I got the dreaded AFS flashing constantly and couldn't fix w the spring replacement. I replaced the actual sensor in the driver rear last night. Is it just plug and play or am I forgetting something? The AFS stopped flashing but the headlights do not swivel left and right after the initial swivel to the right. My AFS control module was replaced last year. Thanks for any info.

Rog

FoxRL

Did you maybe push the "ASF" button on the dash (above the VSA button)? Maybe it is "off"

BlueScreenOfTOM

Hey all, glad I found this thread. My AFS light in my 06 is on constantly now (starts almost immediately after I start the car). A couple of questions for you guys:

1. I also believe my Transmission Range Switch is broken. When I put the car in reverse, the mirrors no longer dip and it doesn't complain when I have the parking break on, and when I put the car in park, the doors no longer unlock. I read in the manual that AFS is disabled when the car goes into reverse. Do you think it is possible that the AFS light and transmission range switch issues are related?

2. I'm not very handy with cars. How would you recommend I proceed in getting this fixed? Should I just buy the Stroker sensor, take it in and have them replace that first? I guess I'm trying to avoid the dealership just telling me "you need a new AFS system" when the problem can be solved much simpler and cheaper.

Bonus question: repair guy wants $350 for parts/labor to fix the range switch. Is this fair?

Thanks for your advice.

Airway

gbarrr119,
I can't thank you enough for posting the pics of the corroded stroke sensor disassembled. Between your pics and another post describing how using a simple Home Depot spring kit (# 471864, which they still keep in stock), I was able to easily fix my AFS light problem. The factory springs appear to be gold plated to prevent corrosion. The replacement springs were grey steel but they did the trick. It appears the O RING designed to seal the cover plate (which covers the springs) is too thin. I had the same corrosion around my "gold" springs as you and even had to use sandpaper and a paper clip to remove the corrosion from the contacts inside the stroke sensor. Once reassembled, I wiped silicone around the outside of the sensor cover plate (since the O Ring wasn't making good contact) to seal the cover. If I have to do it over someday, I'll pick up a new O Ring at Home Depot. My local Acura dealer said he has never sold a Stroke Sensor (didn't even have one in stock). But as this thread mentioned many times, the Stroke Sensor Part # 33146-SJA-003 is usually the culprit when the AFS light comes on. At least that was the problem on my 2005 RL

kingofbytes

Hi All!

With the help of this thread, I was able to solve my somewhat intermittent AFS light problem.

I took apart the Stroke Sensor in question (all you need is a 10mm socket and phillips screwdriver).

When I opened it up, there was corrosion in the #2 contact in the middle...like a build up of 1/8" of rust debris. I cleaned that entire assembly with brake cleaner, a paper towel and compressed air - took about 15 minutes to clean it well.

Then, on the "knob" side, I cleaned that out with brake cleaner and then put in some dielectric grease smooshing it down in the cracks and crevices - turning the knob back and forth. It was clear that before cleaning, it was only moving about 1/3 the way. Now it flows freely.

I did have one gold plated spring that had broken at the bottom - I cleaned it up and just repacked it as I didn't have another one of those on hand.

Once reinstalled, I fired up the car and, voila, no more AFS light. So for about 30 minutes, some brake cleaner, compressed air, dielectric grease and elbow grease, you might solve your problem too.

Thanks to all on this board that pointed me in the right direction!

kewinpa

You all know the situation so I won't go into too much detail. AFS light started coming on intermittently at first and now permanently. Lights seem to be directed very low (just in front of the bumper). It sounds like replacing the rear ride sensor may fix the problem. My question: Can anyone provide any details on the learning procedure that is referenced in some of the posts. (usually says the dealer provided a learning procedure). Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks.

beekermartin

1. Remove all of the baggage from the vehicle.
2. Turn the ignition switch to ON (II)
3. Make sure the AFS indicator does NOT turn off. (if the AFS indicator turns off, the adaptive front lighting control unit is not a new or previously learned unit.)
4. Turn the ignition switch OFF, and then back ON (II)
5. Within 5 seconds turn the headlight switch ON/OFF or to passing three times.
6. Make sure the AFS indicator blinks in a 1 second cycle. (if the indicator does not blink, return to step 2)
7. Turn the headlights ON and make sure the headlights move while the AFS control unit runs the initialization function.
8. Turn the steering wheel 90 degrees or more from the center position to the left and right position.
9. Test-drive, with only the driver in the vehicle, in a straight line for 98.4 feet (30m) at 16mp/h (25km/h) or more.
10. Make sure the indicator turns off. (if the indicator does not turn off, repeat the step 8 and 9)
11. Adjust the headlights

Replacing the stroke sensor shouldn't require this to be done but that is the procedure.

Jazzy1999

Pissed mine came on today car was a week in my possession Wednesday . Wouldn't mind if you could just reset it, might add it was raining heavily

TERRY A KHAN

Stroke sensor mounted on shocks located by rear wheel driver side needs regular replacement.
This is a poor design since the stroke sensor is fully exposed.
My second sensor was replaced only after 35k on my 2011.
My first was replaced after 90K on my 2005.

There is a thread where someone removed the entire sensor and soldered a resistor, I think it was called the 2cents fix.
This method will prevent vertical movement of the low beams, and I think the horizontal movement continues to function.

haulinazhonda

There is a thread in here some where. He tells you step by step how to circumvent the sensor so it reads level

haulinazhonda

https://acurazine.com/forums/second-generation-rl-2005-2012-76/fixing-your-afs-active-front-lighting-system-error-%240-02-save-yourself-%24200-870717/

ChrisJackson

I had the Adaptive Headlight error caused by the corroded suspension stroke sensor discussed in this thread. Repair not possible. Acura prices $400+. I found a sensor on Amazon for Toyota's that looked the same and gave one a try. Cured the error msg and my lights are working fine. It's here.

marjenmiller

iTrader: (1)

Nice!! And only $22 too. Looks like it fits a variety of different brands, so good investigative work on your end!